


Totaled

by cherrysprite



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Car Accidents, Cheating, False Accusations, Fluff, Getting Back Together, Kissing, M/M, Protective Theo Raeken, Sleepy Kisses, So does Liam in this one, Theo Raeken Needs a Hug, Therapy, Worried Theo, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21726631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrysprite/pseuds/cherrysprite
Summary: Liam gets into an accident, and of course, by his luck, there's no one else to call.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 7
Kudos: 195





	Totaled

**Author's Note:**

> This was a sorta old one I wasn't planning on finishing, but I thought it was strong enough not to let scrap, heheh.

There was broken glass all over the dashboard. That was the first thing Liam noticed as soon as he got his ability to see back, the pieces glimmering beneath the streetlight a few feet away from an unlucky tree and the moonlight thousands of miles away but still as guiding. 

He checked his hands for bleeding - nothing there - and quickly took account for all of his limbs, abdomen, and face - nothing there - before he finally took a breath he didn't know he was holding. It came out like a force, shaky but strong as he opened his door. He couldn't find it in him to cringe at the sound of the door wrenching open, just trying to stumble out and grab for his phone in the pocket of his jeans.

As he reached for it, he was vaguely aware of how tense his muscles were, shocked into a shield by the force of the hit on his car. It was hard to get to his contacts list, and by the time he did it, he was forcing himself to take longer, more effective gulps of air. Still, nothing seemed to be getting into his lungs, so frustrating and distracting that he gave up on trying to regulate them. Instead, he scrolled down to 'M' in his contacts and clicked Mason's name, right above 'Mom.'

His parents should have been the first people he called for help, but they were out of town, and Liam hadn't even begun to look over the damage done on his car. It was probably bent up to hell, and he wasn't about to try and explain to his parents what he had done. Sure, they'd be happy he was alive, but the bill would be their focus once the initial relief wore off.

Something told Liam he wasn't ready for that conversation yet, anyway. 

He clicked on the call button as soon as he reached Mason, putting the phone up to his ear shakily and trying to breathe again. The cold night air around him caused his breath to turn icy and visible in the sky as it drifted away, just washing over him even further. He shivered. His coat was in the passenger seat of his car, after all, and he had no idea what that even looked like. 

Dread was starting to pool in Liam's stomach by the second ring, realizing then that he had just wrecked his car. _Wrecked_ it. Hurtled himself into a tree avoiding what he presumed was a stray cat in the road and almost got himself killed, sending glass raining down on him and probably destroying his engine and entire front half of his car in the process. "Damn it, pick up, pick up," Liam whispered as he began to shake, not noticing at first but then glancing down at his hand even more anxiously when he realized. 

What he got was even worse than a voicemail. Mason hadn't ever learned how to set a message up, so all he got in response to his plea for help was the automated message, spoken by a female computer voice. _"This user has not set up their voicemail inbox yet. Press one to leave a message. Goodbye!"_

"Fuck," Liam whispered, quickly hanging up and calling back. Each ring of the dial tone in his ear made him shake more, shivering with both cold and panic as it all set in. "Fuck, fuck!"

"This user has not set up their-"

One more. 

"This user has not set up their-"

One more time as Liam jabs the call button.

"This user has not-"

Liam wants to scream out into the night. It's not like anyone could hear him; he's on a long stretch of road with no houses, only fields and trees for at least a mile in any direction, but his throat feels too constricted to make any noise that doesn't sound half-choked. It occurred to him only then that it was almost midnight and Mason would be dead asleep by then from staying up and studying. He always had his phone on silent, especially at night.

On that note, Liam did groan and whine low in his throat like a toddler, but he couldn't really care for obvious reasons. 

Without thinking about it, he turned back to his car and all of the air suddenly left his lungs again.

Liam has never fucked up so badly in his entire life. He decided that as soon as he saw the way his car looked, all crushed up like a stepped-on soda can against that tree, the tall, strong thing without even a mark on it. It had folded his car up like a piece of cheap plastic and left it there, the headlights slowly dying as the battery was unable to sustain it anymore. He knew that there was no fixing it, let alone driving home with it.

Tears came to his eyes and his heartbeat kicked up. He knew he couldn't ring Mason again. He wouldn't pick up until early that next Sunday morning. As he scrolled through his contact list and watched the screen blur over with the tears, he remembered that there was really no one to call. Corey didn't have a car. His parents were hours away, and so was the rest of his family. The rest of the pack was away at college, living lives that Liam could only wish for.

Of course, there was the possibility of walking home, but he had so far to go, and he was both too weak and too tense to even think about it. If he really fought, he could, but he'd be ready to collapse by the end of the night. Some part of him doubted that he could even get there by the time the sun came up without falling and not getting back up.

He almost, _almost_ let out a sob when he realized who he had to call. Even if he didn't have the number saved anymore, he knew it was the only one that would work. No one else would be up at midnight and have access to a vehicle and care enough to come and get him, although that last one was now debateable. A few weeks ago, Liam wouldn't have any doubt. Now, as he dialed the number manually, he wasn't so sure.

His teeth chattered as he shoved the phone up to his ear, his other hand with its fingers crossed. _Theo might have your number blocked. He might see it on his screen and ignore it or swipe you off. He might be busy and miss it entirely, or flip the screen over so whoever he was with couldn't see it. He might-_

"Liam?" Theo asked uncertainly, and Liam wasn't sure if he had ever been more relieved to hear his voice after what had happened. What was once a phantom following him around and working its way into his bones at every memory was now the only thing keeping him on his feet. Theo must have heard his sudden exhale on the other line before Liam realized he'd done it, because he heard Theo move around on the other end of the line, probably sitting up straighter in bed. "Liam?"

Liam fumbled with his words for a second, unsure of how to even start, but tears gushed out of his eyes and so did a choked-off, embarrassing-if-not-under-the-circumstances noise. _That car was so expensive_ \- "I'm sorry, you were the only one who would pick up," - _Theo probably wouldn't want to come and get him-_

"Liam, what happened?" Theo asked seriously, his voice sounding more awake by the minute. Liam knew how gravelly and sleepy it could get even if he wasn't trying to sleep by that time of night. Hearing his name from Theo's mouth even over the phone prompted Liam to start crying again. 

"I-I, the car-" Liam cried, running a hand through his hair. He hated himself for this, hated hated hated, but he still closed his eyes and kept talking. 

There was nothing quite like calling your ex-boyfriend who you haven't spoken to in weeks to come help you. "-I crashed it into a tree, it's completely dead, and I-" Liam choked. "I can't get back home from here."

And Liam expected Theo to hang up on him, but there was a short, three seconds at most pause before Theo sighed and spoke again. "Where are you?" He asked patiently, and Liam whirled around to look at his surroundings to try and remember. Everything was such a blur. 

"M-maple street? About halfway down the stretch," Liam said after he spotted a familiar twisty tree. 

"I'll be there in five. Stay warm, okay?" Theo said, and that was the last thing Liam heard before he was hung up on.

Theo was almost there by the time it dawned on him that he was actually coming to pick him up. He hadn't seen Theo in a long time, or at least a relatively long one, and he wasn't planning to. They had used to see each other every day, Theo coming over to Liam's house after school or Liam going to Theo's, but things had changed. They hadn't even texted or called since a month before. Explaining the unsaved number that Liam still remembered.

Sniffling and trying to get himself under control so that he didn't look like a complete idiot when his ex got there, Liam pulled his jacket out of the front seat of the car. His airbags were so inflated that it was hard to get it out of there, but he managed, and leaned heavily against the intact part of the car when he got back out. He was too weak to put it on, so he just held it in his arms and watched the road with red-rimmed eyes.

He recognized Theo's truck engine down the road and let out a breath of relief, sniffing again and rubbing at his eyes. If he weren't so tired, he would have been more stupefied to see Theo again in person as he stepped out of his truck to meet him, but all he could do was stand still and look at Theo's feet. He wasn't about to look him in the face.

 _"Holy fuck,"_ Theo breathed, the first words meeting the shared air, as he looked at the mess that was Liam's car. His eyes ran over the almost artful layering of the hood of the car and the shattered glass that laid both at Liam's feet and around the entire area, before landing on Liam. "Oh my God, Liam."

Just like it was on the phone, hearing his own name set Liam into action again, and his eyes squeezed shut. He wasn't trying to cry, in fact, he wanted to punch himself in the face as he did it for how bad this must look to Theo, but he couldn't stop himself from reaching out and wrapping his arms around Theo's middle and squeezing tight. His head dug into Theo's chest like pieces falling into place and he let himself cry, take gasping breaths, because it was all too much. At that point, he wasn't sure if he was crying over the car or the reality that Theo was there, but he couldn't stop. "It's okay," Theo said, hesitantly putting his arms around him. That only made Liam tense and then relax more. "It's okay."

"Thank you," Liam said into his chest, his long sleeved shirt now wet with tears. He felt Theo nod against the top of his head - his chin had always sat there whenever they were like this - and his grip tighten for a second before releasing. 

"Come on," Theo said softly, nodding towards his truck. Liam wiped his eyes off and nodded, following.

He remembered as he got into the passenger seat how much time he had spent in that truck. It was Theo's pride and joy when it wasn't him, the one thing that he had kept from those few weeks after he came back. Everything else had been thrown out if it wasn't essential, as far as Liam knew; he'd been with him when Theo tossed his old clothes that reminded him of worse days when he could afford new ones. Still, the truck stayed behind, and now that there was a familiar, comforting scent around him, Liam was forever grateful.

He glanced over at Theo, whose eyes were firmly trained on the road in front of them. Liam could tell he had several questions floating around in that head of his like he always did, but stayed quiet and closed off. He couldn't even read his chemosignals. He must have gotten even better at hiding them in the few weeks they were apart. He would have taken more time trying to figure out how to read Theo's face now that the chemosignals were gone, since he had no idea what the chimera was feeling.

Instead he looked out the window, but the surroundings weren't the same as his neighborhood. Deep down, he knew Theo knew that, but he spoke up anyway. "This isn't the right way," He said faintly, and Theo nodded. There was a beat of silence. "Where are we going?"

"My house," Theo admitted, and for the first time, Liam noticed how shaky Theo's breath was too. "Your parents are out of town, aren't they? I don't think you should be alone in the house right now."

Something about that touched him, but Liam didn't say it. He was kind of afraid Theo would just toss him out of the truck if he did. Liam would understand if he wasn't in the mood for sentimentality after what happened.

Soft music played in Theo's truck, one of his old Arcade Fire CDs, and they pulled into Theo's driveway in near-silence. Liam made sure not to make any noise as he looked the place over once again and got out of the truck. 

He found out that the front door was still a little squeaky, exactly the same noise as it had made when Theo first moved in with Derek and Peter's help with, well, everything. They'd pretty much been the reason Theo could afford to live anywhere, since Peter had taken a liking to him, and Liam and the Hales (Excluding Cora and Malia) helped him move in what little things he had. Theo had been so proud of that house, since he had worked for it too. He didn't see that same pride in his eyes now, but he could tell that Theo still acknowledged that he finally had a place of his own.

Liam followed Theo up the stairs to the main level and set his jacket down on the bannister slowly. He didn't know now how to behave in his house. It wasn't like he was their under normal circumstances, after all. Theo had disappeared into the kitchen and Liam was left to look around the living room by himself. Nothing, for the most part, had changed since he had been there last, except for a few overturned picture frames. His body was still tense, his muscles instinctually locked in defense, but seeing them still made his heart hurt. He knew exactly what pictures were in those frames.

He looked around each doorway to make sure Theo wasn't nearby before he approached one on an end table by the couch and flipped it back up. He bit down on his mouth and felt his stomach drop uncomfortably when he saw the picture. Liam had his arms around Theo's neck, standing behind him on his tiptoes, and while he was smiling widely, Theo was making a sort of exasperated face at the camera. Mason had taken it at a Dunbar family gathering, and Liam had teased Theo to no end when he still had it printed out for framing after he insisted he didn't like it. 

Theo walked back in and Liam almost dropped the frame, scrambling to put it down quietly on the wood the same way he had found it. He wanted to ask why Theo still had them. He would have assumed that he wouldn't want to remember, and just throw out those memories like he did with his clothes. He wouldn't blame him. "Do you need anything to eat?" Theo asked, and Liam shook his head without thinking about it. He could, but he didn't want to take Theo's food. 

"I ate before I left," Liam said. Theo looked at the picture frame behind him, slightly askew. "Look, I can go. I just needed a ride home."

"Do you want to go?" Theo asked, looking back at Liam with a genuine question in his eyes. Liam opened his mouth, but no words came out. Theo nodded, getting his answer, and went into his room.

He came back out holding a blanket. "You're shivering," He observed, not giving Liam much of a choice as he threw the blanket over his shoulders and looked him over. He took his hands into his to check his arms for injury and Liam's heart jumped much too quickly to play off, but Theo wouldn't meet his eyes. "You're sure you're not hurt?"

"I'm fine," Liam said, slowly pulling his hands away. "You don't have to keep me here-"

"You could have died tonight." 

Those words hung in the air firmly for seconds afterwards, Liam's eyes looking up into his in shock. Theo had his jaw clenched and was fighting to keep any emotion from his eyes. "What were you even doing this late? Driving so fast?"

"I was just picking up something at the store-"

"Beer?"

" _Chips_ , and I wasn't even going that fast-"

"You had to have been going at least seventy!" Theo argued, looking at Liam angrily. Liam hadn't seen that before. "Jesus fuck, Liam, how could you be so reckless?"

"I wasn't-"

"People would miss you if you died, you fucking idiot-"

"Can you let me talk?" Liam shot.

"Like you let _me?"_

Liam froze in place, his face stiffening with the rest of his body, and Theo moved away. Straightened his spine, turned his head to the side just so he had a break from looking at Liam.

He couldn't blame him. 

"You said your parents aren't around?" Theo asked, thinking back to the accident, and Liam nodded quietly. He pulled the blanket tighter around himself, feeling how heavy his eyelids were, but he knew he couldn't sleep if he tried. Not after that. "Alright, come on."

Liam didn't bother trying to protest, since he didn't want to make Theo mad, and he knew that even if he let him go home, neither of them would feel right about it. It felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he left, he might never get to talk to Theo alone again, apologize. If he stayed, he was intruding even while Theo offered.

Theo lead him up to his bedroom and gave him a softer shirt to sleep in, looking away out of principle when Liam kicked his jeans and shoes off onto the floor, and got himself ready without meeting his eyes again. Liam got dressed as quickly as he could. His chest hurt, the wolf part of him whining and clawing at him when it recognized Theo's scent so close to him. Too tired to think about the consequences or judgements, Liam slid under the covers on the side he used to always go on and buried his nose into one of the pillows, ignoring Theo's scent as much as he possibly could.

He'd laid in Theo's bed before. It was soft and comfortable, only a queen-size, which meant that both of them had to fit pretty close together under the blankets for everything to be completely comfortable. Now, however, he found himself laying normally, but Theo to one far side, almost hanging off. That bed had never felt bad before.

Too much of Theo's house brought back memories. It was like the last time he had laid in this bed was all coming back. It had started with them just chilling out, watching Netflix on Liam's computer after Theo had picked him up from lacrosse practice. Things had been simple, or simpler, at least, when he could put other things aside and just watch the bright colors of the screen bounce off of his boyfriend's face. It was simple when Theo could catch him staring and kiss him and blush like the first time, and Liam could push him down into the mattress and kiss him all over his face until the ringing of his phone reminding him of curfew interrupted them.

Liam turned away from the pillow after it became too much, reminding himself that Theo was still there next to him and he couldn't show any signs. He faced the ceiling and stared at the slowly moving fan that the chimera always had on. 

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," Theo said suddenly and softly a few minutes into Liam's thinking, startling them both in a way, but Liam stayed still. "It was a rough night. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's fine," Liam said back, eyes still fixed on the ceiling. "...Thanks for picking me up."

"'s fine." Theo shuffled around just slightly, the sound of the blankets being the only noise in the room. Liam took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

"...I didn't cheat on you, you know."

Liam's eyes snapped back open, and the overwhelming feeling of being sick to his stomach started to bubble up in his gut. It wasn't accusatory or angry, just calmly stated, but the nerves were working their way back into him. He'd regretted that ever since those words came out of his mouth.

It'd just been so easy to say. So many things seemed wrong in his life, in their relationship, at the time, and Liam had only that angry accusation to go off of. He hadn't anticipated it backfiring so badly, for him to be wrong.

_

_Liam was tired of being ignored. He was never one to judge or be insecure about his relationships before, especially over little things, but something with them had changed. It had started slow, just missed texts and accidental voicemails before Theo answered him a few minutes later, the phone being on silent. It was the postponed dates because Theo had things with work or he was picking up extra shifts on the side, or because he had to fill out college applications._

_But the stack of papers with college logos on the tops never changed size when Liam did get the chance to come over with his house and Theo's black polo of a uniform was always clean, and at one point, Liam had driven past his house and seen him in the window when he was supposed to be on a shift. For awhile, he played it off, since Theo had probably forgotten to tell him that the shift had been cancelled, and he didn't owe him that information anyway, he could have freetime. But Theo was forgetting a lot of things lately. The college applications were blank, never even changed positions on the coffee table._

_Then Theo was distracted when they started seeing each other more. He was hiding things, Liam could tell. It was only a matter of time before he found out what._

_That time turned out to be when Theo's phone buzzed on the table while they had been watching a movie and Theo had gone to the bathroom. Liam chewed on his lip and debated with himself if he should really look._

_He'd done something then that he thought was right at the time and turned the screen over to see it lit up with another man's name. Cole, asking "Tomorrow at eight?"_

_One of the times Theo had told him he had a shift to work._

_Liam had seen such red anger fueled by panic in that moment that as soon as Theo walked back into the room, it was basically over. He held Theo's phone in his hand and Theo froze in his place when he saw the hurt and angry look on his face. "Liam..."_

_"Thought you had a shift at eight tomorrow," Liam said, dangerously calm. He took in one deep breath that didn't do much when his tone shifted to be shakier and more desperate. "Who the fuck is Cole?"_

_"Liam, just-"_

_"Who the fuck is Cole and what are you doing with him at eight tomorrow?"_

_"I can explain-"_

_"I should've known." Those three words were said in the most bitter, biting voice he had ever heard, like the hurt was coming up and burning his throat. Tears had stung in the corners of Liam's eyes, too mad to notice how scared and anxious Theo looked, desperate to get a word in. "All those cancelled dates, those missed texts and calls. You've been hiding something from me, I fucking knew it!"_

_"Calm down, please-!"_

_"No!" Liam had shouted over him, and Theo's shoulders sagged. Liam threw his phone back down on the coffee table and grabbed his jacket off the couch, Theo helpless to watch while his words failed. "Have fun with Cole."_

_"Liam-"_

_Liam was out the door, leaving the slamming sound to fill the foyer._

___

Liam had spent weeks hurting, deleting all his pictures with Theo and all of his posts about him. Muting his number when he tried to call and text to deleting it altogether. Eventually the calls stopped, but that just hurt even worse.

He had still been wallowing by the time Corey had talked to him. At first, he hadn't wanted to hear it, but after Corey sat down on his bed and forced him to listen, Liam felt sick, just like he did now.

Cole was Theo's _therapist_.

They had been going over ways to help with his nightmares and anxiety, and Theo didn't want Liam to know about it since he thought it was a journey he had to take on his own. He'd wanted to better himself for Liam, too. He had always been a little insecure in their relationship and wanted to be able to have the confidence to treat Liam the way he should be. Things changed at first because Theo was starting to really fall into an anxious, depressed pit over his problems, and they'd continued after he'd gone to get help.

And God damn if that didn't make Liam feel like a complete and total jackass.

"I know that now," Liam admitted quickly to him, his back still to Theo's. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking-"

"No, I know what you were thinking," Theo said calmly again, not moving a fraction of an inch. "You had every reason to believe I was cheating. I shouldn't have hid things from you like that."

Liam's heart hurt hearing him apologize, since Liam was the only one who had done anything wrong.

After he'd walked out of Theo's life and deleted the evidence, he'd figured that Theo wouldn't want him coming back and wrecking it all over again. He'd caused him enough pain in that lifetime. Theo deserved someone who would listen to him when he needed to talk and wouldn't flip out at the first thing that was suspicious. He could have asked him. Theo would have told him the truth.

But now he found himself with his back pressed against Theo's, the guy he still loved and would do anything for to make up for his actions. It hurt like _hell_.

Liam's mouth was dry. He swallowed through it thickly, his lips parting shakily. "I know there's nothing I can do to make up for that," He said, voice gaining as much power as it possibly could coming into the quiet room. Theo shifted to face him so slowly that Liam barely noticed. "But I just hope you can find it in you to forgive me. I should have...I should have trusted you. Even if we can't be together anymore, I understand. I just want you to know that I'm sorry."

He didn't look at Theo directly, too scared to see his reaction, but he knew Theo was looking at him. It was silent for a second before Theo breathed and moved a little, shuffling the sheets around again. "If that's what you want. But yeah."

Something about that made something shift in Liam's stomach, like a piece falling into a place it didn't quite fit just then. "'What I want?'" He asked cautiously, confused.

Theo leaned up on one elbow. "I'm just saying...I get it if we can't fix this after what happened. But I'm not trying to get you out of my life. I just wanted to explain myself, and I didn't feel like I could, but you understand what I was doing now. But if you want to start over with someone new and move on after this, I can't blame you." Liam blinked at him now that he was in his direct line of sight. Theo breathed again deeply and glanced up towards the ceiling for a brief second. "But I know that I'm still important to you. You called me when you were in trouble, even if it was a last resort, because you still trust me and care about me, even a little bit. Just like I know I'd call you if I got into this situation, not because I don't have that many people to call, but because out of anyone, I'd want you there. So, if you wanted to fix this..." Liam's breath caught in his throat. He could hardly tell if Theo was speaking or if he was dreaming it all. "...I wouldn't say no."

It was like Liam finally knew how to move again, springing up almost enough to knock their heads together when he kissed him. Those lips felt like heaven and Theo showed no hesitation in kissing him back, urgent and deep like he needed it. One of Theo's hands came up to cup Liam's jaw and he knew then that even if he didn't deserve it, he was forgiven.

When they broke away, Liam wanted to cry with all the softness he felt. Theo rested his forehead against Liam's, both their eyes closing as they took in heavy breaths.

"I love you," Theo said, voice wavering, which didn't help the desire to start sobbing. "I'm always gonna love you."

Those were the words that sent them off, the rest of the night filled with silent kisses.

__

It was quiet on the car ride back to Liam's house, but Liam knew now that silence was nothing to worry about.

They'd eaten a nice breakfast that Theo made, still remembering that Liam's favorite was the blueberry pancakes and syrup he used to make all the time when he stayed over. Over breakfast, they'd talked about Theo's therapy sessions and how it had been helping him over those past few weeks, while he was with Liam or not, and Liam was proud of him even if he felt a small tinge of guilt while they were talking. Theo seemed to get that, since he kept kissing him on the cheek or nose or head when Liam got a little too quiet or his face wasn't as relaxed as it should have been.

All in all, Liam considered that one of the best mornings he'd had in a long time.

However, the bliss couldn't last forever as Theo pulled up in front of his house. Images of the crash and his completely wrecked car came into his mind when he looked at his parents' cars sitting in the driveway, and he suppressed a small groan. He had no idea what he was going to tell them.

Theo looked at him for a few seconds as Liam stared at his house with anxiety before he put the truck in park by the curb, making Liam look at him.

"We'll explain it together," Theo said as he opened the drivers' side door, and all Liam could do was smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, as always, for reading!! I hope you liked this one. If you were wondering where I got inspiration for this, I took it way out of context and not at all accurately from a line from a Conan Gray song. "You just went too far, wrecked your car, called me crying in the dark."
> 
> By the way, I have a new tumblr now! I don't have any followers on it, but I figure you might want to. I post about thiam, my fics, and other writing experiences and prompts! https://emmas-scribbles.tumblr.com/


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